i didnt use them when nelly had feather,but i do now he hasnt got any,i found that nelly did brush on the lunge on a circle but he is still young,why not try it once without and watch to see,if he does then put them on next time if not then dont bother

I wouldn't say that feathers protect the legs in the same way that brushing boots do. They protect a whole different bit of the leg IMO.

I use boots on Red, because it's better to be safe than sorry, they don't do him any harm when he has them on, they're cheap and they're baby blue!

There have been a few occasions where Red could have been quite badly hurt if he hadn't had brushing boots on. His legs now don't look right without them when exercising, and I hate going into a showing class and having bare unprotected legs!

I agree with coyote's advice. There seems to be this obsession with using boots, especially for lunging, without actually thinking about if they're necessary or not. Sure, the majority of horses are probably better off wearing them when lunged, but some of our liveries are lunged bootless and have no trouble at all. Brushing and lunging don't always come hand in hand.

I very rarely use boots even on the unfeathered ones but none of them brush and none of them have shoes so chances of doing damage with their own feet quite small. I only boot for jumping or if hacking somewhere they could get caught in brambles or something.

Smartie has feathers but i still use brushing boots on her especially on her hind as this is where she brushes but only lighlty but i have them on the fromt aswell but only for cosmetic reasons!! Her feathers are groing back now but i still use tham as some extra support and padding. I also use overreach boots becasue she is fully shod and can over reach from time to time! The BHS recommends that you use brushing boots and over-reach boots when lunging because the horse is always bending the legs will be slightly crossing over each other and are more likely to brush and catch each other and over reach so i would personally but it is everyones own preferance really!!! ( I even turn her out in all of her boots to protect her from any kicks in the field!!!)

I don't use boots on Ria at the moment because we are long reining on straight lines and large school figures, and her action is quite straight.

When we go on to lunging I'll probably use brushing boots behind, because she's still green and won't necessarily be able to keep her inside hind moving under her body as it ideally would.

Until her balance improves, the inside hind will probably cross in front of the outside hind slightly, which increases the chance of brushing.

I think the advice you've been given here is good - watch his action and how well he moves on the lunge, and make your decision based on that. Put on correctly, and used for sensible periods of time, brushing boots will do no harm while you decide what works best for you two